Thread: Costs related to real estate ownership in the US

I've been thinking about investing some of my hard earned in a nice house somewhere in the US. No idea where yet, I've seen many nice regions, but right now, it's just something wandering around my mind...

Here in Belgium, owning a house is about the best investment possible, and ownership fees are fairly low. In short, there's one fee, indexed yearly, based on a fictional value. Once that reference value is fixed, and you don't change anything structural about the house, it won't change.
Great system for owning a house, but buying one costs 10% of the sale value, plus notary fees which vary, but something around 3% is fairly accurate...

If you buy through a real estate agency, it's the seller that picks up the agency fees. There's also a "policy" to sell "as is".

My question is, how does it work in the US? Who picks up agency fees? What other fees are there? Fees for buying, registration, what about yearly ownership fees? And how does it work if the owner doesn't live in the US? What about liability in case of problems?

What about insurance?

Looking forward to hearing from the real estate agents on here !

not a RE agent, but worked in the investment field for a bit..

you buy from a private seller, no agency fees, just pay title / escrow / taxes per county rules.. if you buy from a broker, seller pays w/e agency fees to the broker, but you can probably negotiate with the listing agent a concession since no one is representing you.

regardless, there will be escrow / title / transfer taxes... im in CA so:

http://www.californiacityfinance.com...sfTaxRates.pdf

here shows the transfer rates per county... then who pays it is per county or what it says on the purchase agreement.

yearly ownership fees are property taxes, which ones twice a year, and you'll need to pay that. taxes differ from state and county as well. you would need to purchase insurance through a hazard insurnace company such as State Farm, All State, Farmers, Prudential, etc.. and prices differ depending on your coverage.

no liability issues unless you are leasing to someone then you'd purchase a landlord policy. everything else should be covered in your insurance coverage.

hope that helps...